the air and the first racist email had just been published
basically like a half hour or 45 minutes whatever it was
before we started the show and now look where we are
Mike we have a lawsuit again from a former Raider it's just
like the more things change the more they stay the same when it
comes to the NFL Al Davis wherever he is and there may be
different opinions on the answer to that question but
wherever
wherever he is he has to be smiling because Jon Gruden has
done him proud suing the NFL and commissioner Rodger Goodell
for a variety of causes of action
we have the complaint I sent it to my house I'm sure miles has
studied it very carefully over the course of the last 45
minutes or so since he's had it and seriously if you had looked
at have questions it's the perfect opportunity to ask me
cuz here's what it is here's what a complaint is civil
complaint is the first document that is filed in a civil
lawsuit it initiates the process the person who is
filing the suit is seeking to change the status quo in some
way either through the payment
of money or sometimes forcing someone to do something like my
neighbor needs to tear down that damn fence that violates
local ordinances whatever it is you are trying to change
the way things are by using the court system you do it with
a complaint the paragraphs
are numbered so that when the defendants to the lawsuit
respond it's all clear there's no misunderstanding allegation
in paragraph number one is this and then eventually
the defendants will say number one we deny we admit we whatever so
it's about Twenty-One Pages more 100 number paragraphs
but I have the gist of what it's about and what it all
boils down to now I think that Jon Gruden has gone too far in
a couple of areas but what it boils down to is the idea that
the Washington football team investigation generated 650,000
email there were supposed to be secret somewhere along the way
someone decided to make a handful of those emails not
secret specifically to take out Jon Gruden that's the key
the emails were been weaponized according to Gruden by
the league and Goodell and potential others
that they don't know about yet but may become aware of later
for the sole purpose of ending Jon Gruden's employment with
the Raiders and destroying his reputation miles that's
the gist of it and if this thing goes to trial will learn a lot
about where those
emails came from how they got leaked who order the code red
etc etc
right and if you don't like this is something that we were
talking about basically as soon as those emails came out right
there the fact that somebody had used those emails against
Gruden specifically and they had stemmed from
an investigation that ostensibly had
nothing to do with him and so it's not like this absolves
group of him saying those things that he said in those
emails I think this as we were staying when this first started
coming out two things can be true at the same time What
Gruden
said was wrong okay I mean I think that is very very clear
you know it was homophobic it was misogynistic it was racist
it can go on and on and on and he can talk about the bones
that he does or does not have in his
body but what he said there was black and white and clear okay
but at the same time I think it also is fair to say that those
emails were weaponized against him the spit and we've been
saying that for weeks and not only did it uninterrupted
Jon Gruden employment in general but it happened in
the middle of the season and it was clearly done to do rail not
just grooving but the Raiders season in some ways so I think
that there is some merits you as you were saying some parts
of
this and then other parts and you know cuz I was reading it
it's like okay well John Green you got to wait a second there
because I don't know exactly if that's true what you're saying
based on everything that we already know about
the situation certainly
is very interesting at the very least and you know if this does
go to trial or if Jon Gruden settled it you're going to see
probably two completely different outcomes because
the trial and it depends on how Petty or if you want to call it
the Jon Gruden wants to be right because if he just wants
the money then he can settle it and then we're done with it but
it doesn't necessarily need somebody what dog breeds make
a lot of money with your coaching football and talkin about
Football on
ESPN mean as it says in the lawsuit he was one of
the highest paid commentators at ESPN so he doesn't necessarily
just need the money and you can take this as far as he wants to
take it Mike well and look
I believe that there is a way I'm trying to make sure
I choose my words carefully here I believe that there is a way
on one hand to say he got what he deserved and on the other
hand say that he was the victim of some
sort of wrongdoing that the Civil legal system provides
a remedy for and I think that instead of cutting with
a scalpel his lawyers may have taken a sledgehammer and
they've created the impression that maybe they're trying
a little too hard to paint Jon Gruden is the
victim and explain it very simply because it comes through
in the lawsuit this idea that the mere release of these
documents in some way damaged his pristine reputation well he
said what he said right now you can you can. And here's what
the here's what I
would have argued here's what I would argue Mark Davis was not
going to fire Jon Gruden for the contents of the emails and
the emails never should have become public and if they'd
never become Mark Davis would have been forced to end
the relationship and Mark Davis was entitled to make the decision
without any interference by the
NFL and taking this information public to decide whether or not
to fire Jon Gruden forced his resignation because of emails
that were sent before he even work for the team and all of
that information should have it all times been private and
secret and no one
should have ever known that Mark Davis was even going
through the motions of do I keep him do I let him go that's
what Mark Davis should have been entitled to do and
I believe when Mark Davis was called to testify Mark Davis
will testify I
believe that if none of us should ever come out he was
fine with it he would have talked to Jon Gruden about it
he wasn't happy with it but he was going to fire the guy for
things that he wrote before he ever became coach of
the Raiders because once it became coach of the Raiders he
never did anything to suggest that that's the way he is
that to me has much more appeal than characterizing Gruden as
one of the greatest coaches of all time on the most successful
coach of all time post a down mr. lawyer or are you sure
you've researched Jon Gruden's full performance in the NFL as
head coach underwater during his time back with the radar so
some of it's a little bit much and the idea that he was
entitled to continue to have this great reputation unsullied
by his own words that's what that's where they lost me
the notion that
he was entitled to have these secret Communications with
Bruce Allen that showed everyone who he is that
provided a window into his soul that he was entitled
for those who remain secret and his reputation to be propped up
by the false perception that was otherwise out there about
it like basically he was selling himself as someone who
he isn't really it was working and how dare the NFL expose who
he truly is
that's the part that bothered me and then I mean you're also
talking about somebody who was sending emails on a Works two
ways to somebody with a work server rights and that's why
these emails even became a part of the investigation in
the first place
because he was sending them to Bruce Allen at work and I feel
like it when you're doing that you are kind of basically
giving the employer of whatever person that you were sending
emails to access to whatever it is that you're saying into me
that
doesn't necessarily make it private and I think a lot of
what this this lawsuit stems from is the fact that private
communication and I mean you can say that yes they're not
all public because not all emails are public but when you
doing something on a work server that that work belongs
been to the company so that's basically what he did he was
owing all of these things that he was saying to be put into
Washington football team's email server and that makes it
a part of the
Washington football team so I just I feel like when your we
are arguing that oh my God she was doing these private
Communications between friends and then they became publicly
that doesn't negate what was in the content of those email then
again I think we can
say that Jon Gruden got what he deserved based on the content
of those emails but it also to me makes it a little bit less
private than if it was just like two dudes sending to Gmail
things to each other what's again wouldn't negate how
heinous
some of those words were than the images also that were
shared between those but it it would make it different if it's
not coming from you know the only truly private
Communications are privileged Communications between spouses
between lawyer and client between preacher and member of
congregation anything you say can and will be used against
you anything you say those become your words and even if
you trust the person who you're speaking to that doesn't stop
them from being subpoenaed unless there's a
privilege and when you write something in a technological
development that is aimed at saving information preserving
information what do you expect so I'm uncomfortable with
the idea that he had the right to say these horrible things and
that it
never should have come to light and necessarily affect his
reputation like let's pretend he's never came out and let's
view me as the guy that I was before you knew all this stuff
that I wrote I don't know why I think that's going too far and
there's other stuff in here to that tells me that he may
pursue the I am not a racist or I am not a homophobe or I am
not this I am not that by quoting Randall Cunningham who
was the Raiders team chaplain and still is by
quoting Tim Brown who came to his defense let's not litigate
in this lawsuit the question of whether or not Jon Gruden is
a racist because he said racist thing I don't think that helps
him he just needs to own the emails and he needs to say
what I said was wrong what I did was wrong and I got what
I deserved however it shouldn't have happened the way that it
did it shouldn't have come out the way that it did the NFL
violated its own internal policies the NFL deliberately
tried to
squeeze one of his member team to do what the NFL wanted
the NFL engaged in wrongdoing because I said if Mark Davis
was not pressured by those public leaks Mark Davis is not
firing his buddy his pal the time show me to his George
Costanza we
talked about that before doesn't matter how bad
the Raiders were their buddies and Mark Davis highlights of Jon
Gruden and he ain't firing him and he'll find a way to keep
Jon Gruden as a head coach unless and until these things
are released and he was
backed into a corner so I got a real problem with that and it
happens lawyers go too far sometimes they went too far
with this the other thing that bothers me too much is
the suggestions a a couple of times in the 21-page lawsuit that
the group emails were leaked as a way for the NFL to distract
from the intense public scrutiny that was a rising from
the Washington football team investigation that's just wrong
there was no scrutiny of the Washington football team
investigation after July one they timed it perfectly
5-day weekend here we go by July 6 it's all forgotten
everybody comes to work after the Fourth of July and it never
was mentioned it only got mentioned because of the Jon
Gruden emails that was when four months later people like
you know what
that mean we're all a vacation and it will drink a little beer
we're shooting off fireworks at attention to this wfp
investigation thing but it don't look very good it was
the league of the Jon Gruden emails that created the controversy
there was no controversy from
which to distract so again you either deal with lawyers who
don't understand how it all works out was Lost in
Translation or someone is trying to create an impression
that isn't true and that's important because you know
automatically got to
address the credibility of certain people in all of this
and if you're overreaching if you're twisting if your
bastardizing reality it hurts your credibility and that
suggestion really hurts The credibility of John Gruden's
lawyers